Starting in 1994, Dana was Jordan’s first attempt to integrate the needs of nature with the needs of people. Building on local skills and initiatives, new opportunities were created to for local people to earn a living, enabling them to be less dependent on goat grazing and hunting, which are harmful to wildlife.

Hand-crafted silver jewelry was the first business venture to be developed, using designs based on the typical plants and animals of the reserve, like the oleander, gecko lizard, ibex and griffon vulture. These were originally designed by renowned Jordanian architect, Ammar Khammash but later the local women artisans started creating designs of their own. Some designs were also taken from ancient rock art and some reflected ecological principles, like the ‘hungry caterpillar design’, which is a nibbled silver leaf symbolizing the interdependency of life. More recently, new variations on the Dana themes have been developed by top jewelry designer, Nadia Dijani, who has cleverly incorporated rock slices and other materials to give a completely new look.

The people of Dana Village have grown apricots and other fruits on their terraced gardens for centuries to feed their families, but as the village and its population declined, the gardens were neglected and much of the fruit was left to rot on the trees. To revitalize the gardens and create new sources of income, ideas for high-value products were developed using the fruit from the old trees and newly planted crops. These included a range of ‘conservation grade’ jams and fruit leathers and dried herbs, all of which are now selling well in RSCN’s nature shops.

Goats are a problem for the Dana Reserve because the large herds are damaging the fragile vegetation cover.  Making attractive gifts from goat leather is one way of increasing the value of individual goats so that Bedouin herders can get the same money from fewer animals. This can then be used as an incentive to encourage smaller goat herds.  Among the most successful goat leather items are small cushions and the leather framed ‘nature boxes’, which contain small stones, beads, dried seeds, copper items and recycled embroidery that reflect nature and Bedouin life in the Dana Reserve.

Wild Jordan is also trying to develop alternatives to goat grazing, including a candle making project.  The candles are being made by Bedouin women to supply RSCN’s eco-lodge in Wadi Feynan, which has no electricity supply and is lit by candles at night to create a unique experience for tourists. The Lodge uses some 20,000 small candles a year.

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High on a plateau above the Dead Sea, several villages border the eastern edge of the Mujib Nature Reserve. Most of the villagers make a humble living from rain-fed farming and goat grazing; being distant from any large towns, the opportunities for new livelihoods are few and far between. In order to bring some small but new job prospects to the poorer members of these communities and raise the beneficial profile of the reserve, several socio-economic programs were developed.

The village women of Fagu’a, for example, are creating an exciting range of silver jewelry inspired by the colors and rock formations of Mujib’s canyons. Each piece incorporates cut and sand-blasted river stones as a feature of their design. The sand-blasting etches subtle animal shapes onto the stones, which are then ‘mirrored’ in real silver or bronze. Some of these animal shapes are replicas of ancient animal drawings found in several protected areas.

Fossils, and especially ammonites, are a special feature of the reserve, and have become an icon of the Mujib jewelry project. Ammonites lived for about 200 million years and became extinct around 6 million years ago. Now regarded as a symbol of good luck, the skills of paleontologists and silversmiths have been brought together to create a beautiful and striking collection of fossil designs.

A very different range of products has recently been added to Mujib’s socio-economic program: herbal teas and extracts. These are being developed from herbs grown by local farmers, in an attempt to reduce the pressure on wild medicinal herbs, which are now in serious decline because of over harvesting.

The Azraq Wetland Reserve is a spring-fed oasis in the Eastern Desert of Jordan, of great importance to migrating birds. It lies only a short distance from the villages of North and South Azraq, which support a combined population of over 10,000 people. These communities have a high level of social and economic deprivation caused, in part, by the over extraction of water from the oasis and the decline of traditional industries like salt extraction.

To help improve the well-being of local people and gain their support for nature conservation, the Azraq Wetland Reserve has been used to stimulate small businesses for village women. The traditional decorative skills of women artisans have been harnessed to create unusual gifts for tourists and a range of other useful products. They include the renowned hand-painted ostrich eggs, which depict many traditional and modern designs meticulously executed using ‘dotting’ and carving techniques. The eggs come from an ostrich flock in the nearby Shaumari Wildlife Reserve and only infertile eggs are used. Apart from decorated eggs, the women make several beautiful silk-screened items, including t-shirts, neck ties, and all the packaging of Wild Jordan products. They also have an expanding sewing enterprise, which creates a variety of shopping and hand bags, as well as more complex items like sleeping bags.

The rolling, forested hills of the Ajloun area create one of Jordan’s most attractive landscapes. The forests, however, are under increasing threat from illegal clearance, wood cutting, and goat grazing; problems that stem mainly from a growing rural population required to earn a living from small-scale subsistence farming. Around the Ajloun Forest Reserve there are five village communities struggling to earn a decent living from traditional livelihoods and these are the target communities for a new nature-based business program that hopes to bring improved incomes and reduce the need to over-exploit forest resources.

The first pilot project started in the village of Orjan, where a group of village women were trained to produce high quality olive oil soaps, using virgin olive oil and herbal ingredients produced locally. While olive oil is grown mainly for direct consumption, there is an annual surplus that can be used for soap production; and this produces a high value product that can be used to supplement normal household incomes.

The most innovative aspect of the soap project is the involvement of the private sector. A partnership has been created with a talented soap designer based in Amman, who developed the Orjan brand of olive oil soaps for the project and who continues to work with RSCN and local women to expand the business under a unique profit-sharing agreement. Apart from staple, pure olive oil soap, the Orjan brand has several variants that include ingredients such as lavender, pomegranate, mint, and geranium.

In addition to the soap project, a new enterprise of herbal biscuits and candies is under development which, again, concentrates on using locally produced ingredients to create high value items for the market; all linked to a conservation philosophy. This project is also engaging private sector talent in its development and management.

Dibeen Forest Reserve is another important forested area under pressure from local people. Incidents of illegal woodcutting and charcoal making have been increasing as farming incomes decline and conventional fuel prices rise. For those families most dependent on forest resources, some small business enterprises are being developed to diversify their income, which include hand embroidered gifts for tourists and simple ceramics.

Traditional embroidery skills are widespread in the local villages and many women are members of small cooperatives or associations that try to market their products. In the Dibeen project, these inherent skills have been used to create a range of embroidered items that are not traditional designs but reflect the forest ecology and presence of the nature reserve. They include wall hangings and cushions that depict the birds and mammals of the forest as beautifully sewn, realistic motifs against a screen-printed backdrop of stylized trees.

In the pilot ceramic business, simple bowls and containers are being made as attractive packaging for the products of other socio-economic projects, such as the olive oil soaps being made in Ajloun. A collection of replica olive oil lamps is also under production, inspired by the nearby and famous Roman city of Jerash.